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Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all

KEEP UP/ CATCH UP WITH DIANE RAVITCH'S BLOG 

A site to discuss better education for all

Slaying Goliath: The Passionate Resistance to Privatization and the Fight to Save America's Public Schools

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Nancy Bailey: Students Should Sue Betsy DeVos and the Other “Reformers” Who Ruined or Closed Their Schools

38by dianeravitch / 49min

Nancy Bailey explains here that if you are dissatisfied with your public school, blame the Disruption Machine, the ones who call themselves “reformers,” like Betsy DeVos. They have run public schools into the ground for the decades. They have imposed their malevolent ideas and policies on public schools, with no accountability for their mistakes. She writes: Frustrated by public schools? Look no

YESTERDAY

Trump Enraged by Rebuke of Evangelicals

20by dianeravitch / 16h

Trump can’t understand why evangelicals would turn against him. He gave them dozens of federal judges, including two Justices of the Supreme Court. Son they will get rid of abortion, gay rights, Obamacare. How dare they? Trump’s rage at Christianity Today gives away his scam By Greg Sargent Opinion writer covering national politicsEmail BioFollow Washington Post | President Trump just erupted in

Commonweal Endorses Impeachment

by dianeravitch / 19h

The liberal Catholic publication Commonwealth defended the impeachment proceedings. It was right for Democrats in the House to proceed with impeachment, both how and when they did. The articles of impeachment are narrow in scope but nevertheless damning. The first charges Trump with abusing the power of the presidency. In secretly withholding nearly $400 million in military aid to Ukraine until i

The Most Important Article Written about Common Core

100+by dianeravitch / 20h

Lyndsey Layton of the Washington Post interviewed Bill Gates in 2014 and told the full story of the origin of the Common Core “State” Standards. In case the Washington Post is behind a paywall, the full text of the Layton article is here. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan and other friends of the CCSS insisted that the standards were developed by governors, state superintendents, education exper

Jan Resseger: Are the Common Core Standards Dead or Alive?

34by dianeravitch / 21h

Jan Resseger is upset that the New York Times posted an article seeking to revive the moribund Common Core standards. Some states dropped the CC standards; some kept them but gave them a new name. Most dropped the CC-aligned tests. In her view, the CCSS died because it was hated by significant numbers of teachers and parents. It launched the Opt Out movement in New York State, which annually enli

Prominent Evangelical Magazine Says It’s Time for Trump to Go

by dianeravitch / 22h

Christianity Today was founded by the late Reverend Billy Graham, the leading figure in evangelical Christianity. Its publication is Christianity Today. CT published an editorial today saying that it was time for Trump to leave. it received national attention. The editorial was signed by its editor-in-chief Mark Galli: Let’s grant this to the president: The Democrats have had it out for him from

ProPublica: Donald Trump Jr. Visits Mongolia, Gets Special Treatment, Kills an Endangered Sheep

by dianeravitch / 23h

Someday we won’t have to think about the Trump family and their misadventures. I look forward to that day. Donald Trump Jr. went to Mongolia in the summer of 2019, and ProPublica explains what he did there. What did you do on your vacation? Did you slaughter a creature who is part of an endangered species? The rocky highlands of Central Asia, in a remote region of Western Mongolia, are home to a

Houston: Founder of Houston Charter Chain Indicted and Arrested

23by dianeravitch / 1d

For the fourth time in only five years, the leader of a charter school has been arrested for siphoning money away from the school. The Houston Chronicle reports : The founder of a now-closed Houston charter school network failed to properly disclose more than $1 million in payments to his brother’s companies and used taxpayer funds to cover costs associated with a timeshare in Hawaii, federal pro

DEC 19

Dana Milbank: Trump’s Deepening Demagoguery

by dianeravitch / 1d

Dana Milbank of the Washington Post wrote about Trump’s reaction to being impeached: Rage, Ridicule, Denial. Can you hold this man up as a role model for your children? He writes: It was 9:05 Wednesday night. Seven minutes earlier, President Trump received word, in the middle of a campaign speech, that he had been impeached by the House on the second of two articles. And how did he observe this s

Politico: Who Is Raising Money for Mayor Pete?

87by dianeravitch / 1d

In response to challenges from Elizabeth Warren about his funders, Mayor Pete Buttigieg released a list of his major donors, including his “bundlers,” the people who raise money from others for him. The list included some interesting names. One of them was Wall Street hedge fund manager John Pertry, who serves on the board of Eva Moskowitz’s Success Academy charter chain in New York City. Petry w

Trump’s Most Eloquent Critic Warns that Trump Will Shame the Republicans Who Defend Him

by dianeravitch / 1d

George T. Conway III is Trump’s most eloquent critic. If you follow him on Twitter, you will know that he has been consistent in calling out Trump for his outrageous behavior and his illegal actions. (He is the husband of Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s senior advisor, and some speculate that she is Anonymous, the inside whistleblower.) He writes today in the Washington Post that Republicans have lashe

Teresa Hanafin: The Impeachment Aftermath and Trump Derangement Syndrome

by dianeravitch / 1d

Teresa Hanafin wrote in the Boston Globe feature called “Fast Forward” about the aftermath of the impeachment vote and about Trump’s bizarre attack on Rep. Debbie Dingell in her home state of Michigan. Usually, when people use the term “X Derangement Syndrome,” they refer to people who become deranged thinking too much about X. In this case, it is Trump who displays his own derangement syndrome,

Miami: A School Choice Dream or Nightmare?

24by dianeravitch / 1d

Sue Legg is a leader of the League of Women Voters in Florida and a member of the board of the Network for Public Education. She writes here about Miami, a district that is “all in” for school choice. Miami seems to have taken the place of Denver as their favorite district, now that the choice Majority was booted out of power. Legg writes: Miami is the school choice capital! According to this Edu

John Merrow: Winners and Losers in Pittsburgh

by dianeravitch / 1d

Veteran journalist John Merrow attended the Public Education Forum in Pittsburgh. I n this post , he reports his views about the candidates. Which ones did best, which ones were disappointing. And which one was the biggest surprise of the day and, in his estimation, “the biggest winner of the day.”

Nashville: Amy Frogge Tells the Chamber of Commerce Why Public Schools Are Great!

by dianeravitch / 1d

Amy Frogge is a member of the elected school board in Metro Nashville. She is a parent activist and a lawyer. She is also one of the heroes of my new book SLAYING GOLIATH: THE PASSIONATE RESISTANCE TO PRIVATIZATION AND THE FIGHT TO SAVE AMERICA’S PUBLIC SCHOOLS (Knopf), which will be published January 21. When Amy ran for the school board, the Disruption movement funded her opponents. Groups like

Andrea Gabor: How Schools Can Help In Getting an Accurate Census Count in 2020

by dianeravitch / 1d

Andrea Gabor writes here about the importance of an accurate Census in apportioning Congressional representatives and federal resources. She shows that California leads the way in relying on schools to make sure there is an accurate head count of those who live in the state. Fears are running high that the 2020 U.S. census could result in a costly undercount in a number of states and communities.

IDEA Charter Chain Drops Plan to Lease a Private Jet for $2 Million a Year

25by dianeravitch / 2d

Owning a charter chain is very lucrative, especially when it is one of Betsy DeVos’s favorites. Just this year, she gave the Texas-based IDEA chain $116 million from the federal Charter Schools Program to expand in Texas and Louisiana.* Feeling flush, the IDEA board of directors approved a plan to lease a private jet and pilot at a cost of $160,000 a month for eight years, nearly $2 million a yea

“Democracy Now” on the Public Education Forum

by dianeravitch / 2d

Amy Goodman, host of “Democracy Now,” interviews Carol Burris, Keron Blair, and Jitu Brown about the Public Education Forum and the fight for equity and justice. We are educating the public about the importance of changing the status quo. Ahead of the last Democratic presidential debate of the year this Thursday, seven candidates appeared Saturday at the historic Democratic Presidential Forum on

DEC 18

Do You live in One of the Targeted Districts Where Your Representatives Put Principle Over Politics?

by dianeravitch / 2d

The Washington Post reported this evening that moderate Democrats who voted to impeach Trump are the targets of a GOP ad campaign to oust them. Every one of them knew they were putting their future at risk. GOP-tied group to spend $2.5 million against moderate Democrats An advocacy group with GOP ties said Wednesday it will spend $2.5 million in the immediate aftermath of the House impeachment vo

Trump Impeached, Trumpism Prevails in GOP

by dianeravitch / 2d

Dana Milbank in the Washington Post captures the strange upside-down distortion of facts and evidence that characterized the Republican side of the debate. Not a single Republican was willing to question Trump’s efforts to entice a foreign nation to dig up dirt on a political rival. None thought it was unsavory, atrocious, intolerable. What if Obama has done the same thing? They would have been h

Peter Greene: Congress to DeVos: “Sorry, Nope, No Way”

41by dianeravitch / 2d

Peter Greene writes here about the budget approved by Congress for the Department of Education. There is good news and bad news. Peter Greene thinks it’s mostly good news. I’d say there is both. Congress did not appropriate a penny for Betsy DeVos’s top priority, her $5 billion request for vouchers (aka “education freedom scholarships”). Sorry, Betsy, nada. Even Republican Congressmen and Senator

Audrey Amrein Beardsley: How Much Do Teachers Affect the Increase in Their Students’ Height?

24by dianeravitch / 2d

Audrey Amrein Beardsley is one of the leading experts in the nation in the field of value-added assessment and also one of the nation’s leading skeptics of the claim that teacher “effectiveness” can be measured by the test scores of their students. Recently, a study was published by economists that purported to measure the effect of teachers’ on their students’ height. The study was a blatant lam

Ed Johnson: Will the Citizens of Atlanta Allow Their Public Schools to be Transformed into a Business?

24by dianeravitch / 2d

Ed Johnson, a close observer and frequent critic of the Atlanta public schools, writes here about the superintendent’s plans to adopt models developed by Eli Broad and the Waltons to transform the public schools into a business. Johnson is a believer in the collaborative philosophy of W. Edwards Deming. December 2019 Journey of Transformation: Atlanta schools to “buy” teachers by “price tag” “Thi

Owen Davis: How Pearson and Other Test Makers Made a Killing on the U.S. Testing Mania

1Kby dianeravitch / 2d

Owen Davis writes here about the enrichment of the testing industry by No Child Left Behind and Race to the Top. The testing and accountability craze started before No Child Left Behind, but that federal law turned it into a bonanza for Pearson and other companies and led to a consolidation of the testing industry. We now know, almost 20 years after NCLB was signed into law on January 8, 2002, th

Thomas Ultican: The Manufactured Disaster that Crushed the Oakland Public Schools

200+by dianeravitch / 3d

Thomas Ultican, the chronicler of the Destroy Public Education movement, writes here about the calculated destruction of the Oakland Public School District, which has suffered at the hands and by the wallets of billionaires. In 2003, the district had a deficit of $37 million. The state forced the district to take out a loan of $100 million. In return, the state took control of the district. After

DEC 17

Teresa Hanafin on the Return of Guiliani

by dianeravitch / 3d

Terrsa Hanafin of the Boston Globe’s Fast Forward writes about Rudy Guiliani: My word, Rudy Giuliani barely stepped foot back in the US before that foot was firmly planted in his mouth. He told The New Yorker that he was instrumental in forcing out Marie Yovanovitch, the highly respected ambassador to Ukraine, because “I needed [her] out of the way. She was going to make the investigations diffic

Sackler Family Transferred $10 Billion Out of Purdue as Opioid Crisis Worsened

by dianeravitch / 3d

The New York Times reports that the Sackler family, one of the nation’s wealthiest families, busily transferred assets to themselves as the opioid crisis worsened The Sacklers derived most of their billions from Purdue Pharma, prominent manufacturer and marketer of Oxycontin. Jonathan Sackler is a major supporter of charter schools. He underwrote charter schools in Connecticut, created ConnCAN, t

Jan Resseger: Ohio’s Expansion of Vouchers for Religious Schools Will Burden School Districts Across the State

27by dianeravitch / 3d

Jan Resseger describes here the ideology and shamelessness behind the expansion of vouchers for religious schools in Ohio. She shows how the plan was cooked up by legislators who are contemptuous of public schools and public school teachers. They don’t care that nearly 90 percent of the parents in Ohio send their children to public schools. This action will drain resources from the public schools

SHOCKER: Indiana Refuses to Give Three Indianapolis Schools to For-Profit Charter Chain

500+by dianeravitch / 3d

Indiana is a swamp of school choice corruption. If you read this post, your hair might catch on fire if you are sensitive to things like ethics, honesty, and responsible stewardship of public money. Seven years ago, the state superintendent of Indiana was a school choice firebrand named Tony Bennett. There was nothing he wouldn’t do to transfer public money from public schools to charter operator

A Brit Warns U.S.: If You Want to Beat Trump, Choose a Centrist Candidate

by dianeravitch / 3d

If I conducted a poll of readers of this blog about their choice for the Democratic nominee in 2020, I suppose that Sanders and Warren would lead the pack, overwhelmingly. But here is a different point of view. The North America editor of the BBC has a warning for Americans. Pay attention to what happened in the British elections, where Boris Johnson walloped the Labour Party. If you want to beat

Nancy Bailey: What the Public Education Forum Failed to Discuss

70by dianeravitch / 4d

Every blogger who has written about MSNBC’s Public Education Forum expressed gratitude that a big cable network paid attention to our most important democratic institution. Nancy Bailey is angry about the issues that were ignored, the ones that threaten the future of students, teachers, and public education. She is also streamed that the program was not on live TV. Public education not important

DEC 16

Jan Resseger Reflects on the Public Education Forum

by dianeravitch / 4d

Jan Resseger shares her reactions to the Public Education Forum. She was heartened by what she saw and heard, as candidates recognized the need to increase investment in education. She invites you to watch the video if you missed the event.

How CZI’s Summit Schools Excluded Its Own Students from an Open Meeting

100+by dianeravitch / 4d

Summit Public Schools, a Bay Area chain of charter schools that receives tens of millions of dollars from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative and the Gates Foundation, found a way to skirt the intention of California’s recently passed charter transparency bill, SB 126. They held a board meeting 12/12/19 and only allowed six members of the public in the boardroom. Summit’s CEO said it was because allow

Just in Time for Your Holiday Shopping: Slaying Goliath!

21by dianeravitch / 4d

IT WON’T BE OFFICIALLY PUBLISHED UNTIL JANUARY 21, BUT YOU CAN PRE-ORDER YOUR COPY FROM YOUR BOOKSELLER OR AN ONLINE BOOK DEALER (PLEASE PATRONIZE INDEPENDENT BOOKSTORES, IF YOU STILL HAVE ONE NEAR YOU!). I PROMISE YOU WON’T BE DISAPPOINTED! IF YOU COME TO THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE NETWORK FOR PUBLIC EDUCATION IN PHILADELPHIA MARCH 28-29, I WILL PERSONALLY INSCRIBE YOUR COPY OF THE BOOK! EDUCATIO

John Thompson: The Danger of Ignoring the Most Important Problems Facing Our Kids and Our Society

95by dianeravitch / 4d

John Thompson, historian and retired teacher in Oklahoma, shares his thoughts about what matters most. What matters most for the future is not test scores, yet we have spent an entire generation–now almost two generations of young people who have passed through our schools since 2000–focusing only on test scores. Will we pay a price? Will they? As I left the computer to walk the dog, a thought pr

Akron: Former Leader of “Digital Academy” Accused of Diverting $167,000 to a Shell Company

33by dianeravitch / 5d

Bill Phillis in Ohio sent out this message. Cyber charters have a very poor record, both academically and financially. The former head of the now-closed virtual charter school Akron Digital Academy misused $167,753 of school money through a shell vendor, according to a state audit released Tuesday. “This is a very serious abuse of taxpayer dollars and we will seek to recover every penny,” Ohio Au

Mitchell Robinson Grades the Democratic Candidates with Danielson Rubric

200+by dianeravitch / 5d

Mitchell Robinson, professor of music education at Michigan State University, attended the Public Education Forum in Pittsburgh. He graded the candidates, using the Danielson rubric. Read what he thought about the candidates. He writes: In the spirit of our country’s current rather draconian approach to “accountability” in public education, I thought I’d describe the candidates’ performances on S

DEC 15

Peter Greene Grades the Public Education Forum and the Candidates

by dianeravitch / 5d

Peter Greene, as usual, is sharp and on target in reviewing the Public Education Forum in Pittsburgh. He fact checks the candidates. He was pleasantly surprised by Amy Klobuchar, which seems to be a common reaction. Ignore a few spelling errors and enjoy.

Carol Burris Rates the Candidates at the Public Education Forum in Pittsburgh

500+by dianeravitch / 5d

Carol Burris led the delegation from the Network for Public Education at the Public Education Forum in Pittsburgh. Here are her reflections on the candidates; There were roughly 1000 attendees at yesterday’s Public Education Forum 2020. The group was diverse in both race and age. Students accompanied by parents sat side by side with senior citizens. It was a captivated audience, the vast majority

Utah: Charter Enrollment Declines for First Time in a Decade

30by dianeravitch / 5d

Charter enrollment declined in Utah for the first time in at least a decade, and no new charters opened. Enrollment at Utah’s charter schools — which have seen explosive growth in the past as they’ve attempted to be “education’s disruptors” — declined this year for the first time in at least a decade. The dip is largely unexpected but follows a particularly chaotic year for charters in the state.

Arthur Camins: Teachers are on the Front Line of the War for Truth, Facts, Evidence

53by dianeravitch / 5d

Arthur Camins salutes teachers as the front line warriors in the battle to restore truth, facts, and evidence against the onslaught of the Trump war on reality. Yes, Virginia, there is objective reality in the world. No, Virginia, there are no alternative facts. 2+2 really is 4. It is 4, today, tomorrow, and into the future. We count on teachers to teach students to care about reality and evidenc

Nancy Bailey: It’s Wrong to Force Four- and Five-Year Olds to Read!

300+by dianeravitch / 5d

Nancy Bailey writes here about the idea–promoted by NCLB, Race to the Top, and Common Core– that kindergarten children should know how to read. She says this is wrong. Young children should be encouraged to speak and listen, she writes, which is something they do while playing and interacting with other children. She writes: With No Child Left Behind, Race to the Top, and Common Core State Standa

Peter Greene Confesses: My Toddlers Can’t Read!

25by dianeravitch / 5d

Peter Greene has older children and a set of young twins. He refers to the twins as the “Board of Directors of the Curmuducation Institute.” He, the father, is the CEO. In this post, he confesses that his twins can’t read! They turn the pages, they look at the pictures, but they can’t read! Of course, they are only 2 1/2, so soon they will read, he is sure. But this gives him the opportunity to d

Leonie Haimson: Achieve Misleads the New York Regents about Exit Exams

by dianeravitch / 6d

Leonie Haimson writes that the New York State Board of Regents (the state board of education) hired Achieve to review the evidence about the value of exit exams. Achieve presented a report saying that 28 states require tests for high school graduation. Haimson says that Achieve confused end-of-course exams with high-school graduation exams that students must pass to get a diploma. In 2003, 30 sta

Steven Singer: The First Report from the Public Education Forum in Pittsburgh

20by dianeravitch / 6d

Steven Singer participated in the Public Education Forum in Pittsburgh, where the leading Democratic candidates (and a few not-leading candidates) spoke to an audience of teachers, members of civil rights groups, and teacher unionists. These are his ten take-aways from the day. A few highlights: The fact that it happened at all is almost miraculous. Who would have thought Presidential hopefuls wo

DEC 14

The MSNBC Public Education Forum Was Terrific!

100+by dianeravitch / 6d

Hats off to Randi Weingarten and Lily Eskelsen Garcia for organizing today’s MSNBC Public Education Forum! It was a wonderful event, and it was thrilling to see all of the major Democratic candidates competing to win the support of America’s millions of teachers, vowing their love for teachers and their dedication to public schools. Best of all was that they all recognized that the United States

Peter Greene: Betsy DeVos Tells You Who She Is and What She Believes

32by dianeravitch / 6d

Peter Greene writes here about Erica Green’s excellent coverage of Betsy DeVos’s testimony to Congress about student debt. He says you have to pay close attention to her words to understand that she is not greedy, she is not dumb; she knows exactly what she is doing. He writes: “Here’s an absolutely DeVosian quote from the proceedings: “I understand that some of you here just want to have blanket

Michigan’s Ghost Charters: Where Did the Money Go?

30by dianeravitch / 6d

Michigan has been Betsy DeVos’ Petri dish for school choice for 20 years. The state theoretically has no for-profit charters but in reality, 80% of its charters are run by for-profit management companies. Michigan also has the largest number of charters that received millions from the federal Charter Schools Program but never opened. These are “ghost schools.” Carol Burris identified them in the

Little Rock: An Urgent Appeal for Donations to a Legal Defense Fund for the Public Schools

300+by dianeravitch / 6d

Hello from Arkansas! Thank you for your continued coverage of the Walton-funded takeover efforts in LIttle Rock School District, and public education in Arkansas. I’ve been blogging about education policy & politics here for a little over a year, and really appreciate the times you have shared my work and the work of Dr. Anika Whitfield. You have really helped get Arkansas into the national spotl

Bloomberg Buys a National Campaign

by dianeravitch / 6d

The Washington Post writes here about MIchael Bloomberg’s unusual campaign : Skip the early primaries, inundate the key states with unprecedented spending. Unlike Trump, Bloomberg has experience in running for office and winning, and he has executive experience as a three-term mayor of New York City. Unlike Trump, Bloomberg is a real billionaire, with assets of more than $50 billion. He is good o

Michael Kohlhass: How “Nonprofit” Charter Schools Make a Profit

400+by dianeravitch / 6d

There are many ways in which nonprofit charters make a profit. Most involve complex real estate transactions and such things as “triple net leases” which are hard for the public to understand. Such deals often involve a charter operator owning or leasing the real estate and renting it to the charter school at exorbitant rates, with the public footing the bill. Michael Kohlhaas has discovered anot

North Carolina: Stuart Egan Warns His Fellow Teachers Not to Be Fooled by Lt. Governor Dan Forest

48by dianeravitch / 6d

High school teacher Stuart Egan notes that teachers across the state of North Carolina received a letter from Lt. Governor Dan Forest boasting about his education record. Forest is running for governor against Democratic Governor Roy Cooper. Egan warns teachers not to be fooled. He writes that this is the real record of Dan Forest, and it should not be forgotten at election time: So why did Fores

Arthur Goldstein in Pittsburgh Watching Charter Protest

by dianeravitch / 7d

Arthur Goldstein, veteran NYC teacher, traveled to Pittsburgh for the Public Education Forum, which will be live-streamed by MSNBC. Outside he sees a group of protestors from the charter industry, complaining that public schools get any notice at all. Six percent of America’s children are in charters. Almost 90% attend public schools. Goldstein remembers the many events where the charter industry

Carol Burris Invites Comments and Corrections on “Asleep at the Wheel”

49by dianeravitch / 7d

Carol Burris, executive director of the Network for Public Education, responds here to critics of NPE’s “Asleep At the Wheel,” the landmark analysis of the deeply flawed federal Charter Schools Program and invites comments and 

Diane Ravitch's blog | A site to discuss better education for all